Malaysian athlete 8 months pregnant ends Olympic bid

London
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Nur Suryani Mohammed Taibi, a Malaysian athlete, who is eight months pregnant and competing in the 10-meter air rifle event at the London Olympics ended her bid this morning. She missed the cutoff by five points to finish in 34th place.

She found out she was pregnant two days before qualifying for the Olympics in January. Although she is missing the finals,Taibi is returning home with a special distinction at the Olympics.

Mommyish.com reports Taibi is the most "heavily pregnant" athlete ever to compete at the Olympics. According to Reuters, Taibi said in April: “When I go to London, I will be 33 weeks. When I come back it will be 34 weeks.”

Taibi said she was aware that she could go into labor at any moment, but she was hoping to win a medal before her baby comes. AP reports Taibi said: "I will breathe in and breathe out and try to calm myself down and talk to baby: 'Behave yourself and help Mummy to shoot.' And luckily she understands. She always understands."

Taibi, in an interview with the BBC, said her performance improved with pregnancy because the baby provides extra weight that makes her more stable. She said: “Now I have balance at the front and the back. So the stability is there.”

According to AP, Taibi's pregnancy meant she had to use a special suit and belt for practice and because her pregnancy is drawing attention on her it may affect her concentration.

Taibi said: "When you think negative things, it will give you more stress. Then it will make your anxiety greater, and then you cannot handle the stress and the situation. It makes you less confident of yourself and less focused on yourself."

She said “When the baby is born, I will tell her you are very lucky. You were not born yet, but you competed with me in the Olympic games.”

AP reports that Taibi's father Mohammed Taibi, said: "I'm satisfied already. I'm proud of her. I've told her: 'If you can compete in the Olympics, that's such an achievement already -- all the more when you're pregnant.' We're her family, so we support her."

Taibi is ranked 47th in the world and has won two golds at the Southeast Asian Games in 10-meter air rifle and 50-meter rifle. She finished fifth in 10-meter rifle at the Asian Championships in January.

She also qualified for the 50-meter event. According to MSN Now, she decided not to shoot in the 50-meter event because, "I cannot do prone position with this big stomach."

The Inquisitr reports Taibi ended her Olympic bid at about 10 a.m. this morning after she scored a perfect 10 in 32 of her 40 shots, but she missed the cutoff by five points to finish in 34th place.

“A pregnant woman can do whatever they think they can do... The most important thing is how they think... I don’t feel like there’s a challenge during pregnancy. I just feel like ordinary, normal people, as if I am not pregnant. I still can do whatever a normal person can do.”